Once the dust had settled from the 2016 election, if there was one quote available to sum up Chris Christie’s part in the drama it might have been, never has one man sacrificed so much to gain so little in return. Christie was a fierce critic of Donald Trump during the primary but quickly fell in line as one of the President Elect’s most loyal supporters after dropping out. He faced all manner of criticism and ridicule for his many appearances on the campaign trail while his approval numbers back home in New Jersey plummeted. But when all was said and done he trudged back to the Garden State with little to show for his efforts.

Now a new chapter in the story may be unfolding. According to some of his closest aides, the Governor reportedly thinks that he’s still going to wind up with a seat somewhere on the Trump Train. (The Hill)

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) believes he will ultimately find a role in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, according to a new report.

Christie imagines Trump will eventually make him a top aide managing the White House, The New York Times said Tuesday.

The Times said Christie insists he has a political future nationally after suspending his presidential campaign last February.
Christie plans on writing a book about his political career, it said, and close friends have told others in New Jersey he believes Trump will reward his longstanding loyalty.

Could Christie be onto something here or is he engaging in wishful thinking? His harsh rhetoric about Trump during the primary certainly shouldn’t be a factor keeping him out of a White House job. Trump has already shown that he has the capacity to be magnanimous and forgive if not forget. You’ll recall some of the things Rick Perry said about The Donald during the same period and he’s on his way to a cabinet position today.

Surely there’s something else keeping Christie out of the cabinet and we can probably make at least one good guess as to what it could be. Less than a week after the election, sources inside Trump’s inner circle were leaking out stories about how Trump was “disgusted” with Christie. It wasn’t anything to do with their debates on the campaign trail, but rather the Governor’s handling of Bridgegate.

President-elect Donald Trump is so disgusted with Chris Christie’s handling of the Bridgegate scandal that he’s kicking the New Jersey governor out of his inner circle, The Post has learned.

“Trump thought it was shameful that Christie didn’t take the fall for [convicted aide] Bridget Kelly,” said a source close to the transition team. “Trump is really angry that Christie is sending a soccer mom to jail. He believes 100 percent that Christie was behind it all.”

Christie’s master plan (at least as described by his aides) is to wait for Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon to fall flat on their faces as advisors to Trump, at which point Christie would come riding in to the rescue. So… okay then.

At the same time as this plan is cooking away on the back burner, Christie is insisting that he’ll stay and finish out his term as governor. But that’s still more than a year away. Traditionally, by the time we’re that far into a term, the new president has pretty much built his team and allowed them to settle in together. It would be unusual to say the least to see him bring in a new high level advisor at that point.

Perhaps we haven’t seen the last of Chris Christie on the political stage. In a way I hope that’s the case because I’ve always liked the guy. But as far as the Trump administration goes, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the ship has already sailed.